March 6, 2009
Media _Release

EPMU releases recession film on YouTube

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union released a short film today to educate members and the wider public about the causes of the current recession and how working people can respond to it.

The film, titled Crunch Time, is directed by Tony Sutorius (Campaign) and features interviews with economists Brian Easton, Peter Conway and Gareth Morgan, EPMU national secretary Andrew Little and union members.

The film runs for 13 minutes and is being made available to the public for free on YouTube.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says Crunch Time is about giving workers the information and the confidence they need to deal with the recession.

“In this recession our job as a union is very clear. We’ve got to look after our members, keep people in jobs, and keep wages and conditions. We also need to set some bottom lines, so that workers don’t take all the pain for a crisis they didn’t cause.

“This film is about making sure we understand the recession, but equally about making sure we don’t panic about it. There are a lot of employers out there who are trying to get workers to panic, and to use that to push through restructuring.

“We need to stand together as working people, and when employers approach us we need to be ready to talk to them, work through the issues together and make sure the burden of the recession is shared fairly.”

Crunch Time can be found at the EPMU’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/NZAEPMU or at http://www.epmu.org.nz/crunch-time/

It is also being distributed to the EPMU’s delegates in hard copy and to the wider membership via the union’s electronic newsletter and website.

ENDS

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